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lifeboat-minFrom Innovation to Oblivion…

The ups and downs of Bitcoin as an internet currency may be compared to the eventual demise of Google Glass due to its lack of purpose among consumers. While it does not significantly hold true for bitcoins, which apparently have a more supportive and enthusiastic followers, the path that these two have taken and will take may be substantially similar than we like to admit.

For one, Bitcoin’s staggering price decline in the recent days left some people wondering what road it will eventually take in the near future. Is it only taking a detour or is it bound for a dead end?

In the case of Google Glass, it received much attention during its inception a few years ago. It was even named by Time magazine one of the best innovations of 2012. However, despite the ingenuity behind a supposed-to-be groundbreaking invention, Google Glass lacked a tangible sense, its purpose incoherent.

Thus, after much speculation, Google recently announced that it would stop selling Glass and that the product would no longer be developed in their research division.

Will Bitcoin End Up Like Google Glass?

Google Glass and Bitcoin are connected by the revolutionary technology that made them a star in the first place. There was some genius work in each of the piece, there’s no doubt about that, but without a clear purpose of how to integrate each product into the mainstream society, it becomes pointless.

Fortunately, bitcoins may stand a chance. Though there’s a portion of the populace that thinks of bitcoins as the internet currency that’s only best suited for illegal activities, its original function, which is for faster and cheaper way of transacting online, still proves to be prevalent.

It’s true that bitcoins were way more fun before that they are now, but it cannot be denied that this cryptocurrency has opened doors for a myriad of possibilities and eliminated security vulnerabilities, in which financial institutions such as banks and credit card companies are relatively known for.

Unlike Google Glass, Bitcoin has a tangible sense, a coherent purpose, and a crystal-clear vision. That is to move around the internet with your money free from the control of the government or any institution. Since there’s nothing that precedes this work of art and technology, it has a chance of staying. Thus, Bitcoin’s game is far from over.

Bitcoin Price Crash

The volatile nature of bitcoins took its toll as recent turn of events saw the value plunging down to $274 as of this writing. CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index reported that while it opened to $314.59 last Saturday, it was followed by a staggering $263.63 the next day.

The remarkable price drop got everyone talking and while it instigated worries among market watchers, some focused on its bright side, deeming it the perfect opportunity for buying. However, the question still lies out in the open unanswered. What caused the steep crash?

Theories suggest that it may have something to do with margin calls, which if accurate, already did something of this nature sometime in August last year. The holiday season is another factor that may have had affected the value of bitcoins inadvertently. This was the season where exchanges were few with all the banks closed, disabling traders from filling up their cryptocurrency accounts.

Despite not having any accurate explanation as to what caused the bitcoins’ price to go down, the fact that it is sensitive to various factors traders are yet to fully comprehend, makes the future of bitcoins somehow ambiguous. Some traders even think that this will not be the lowest value yet; the price has further to decline. Being said that, will this affect its overall value and functions?

The fact that the number of communities, states and countries warming up to the idea of using bitcoins for basic transactions continues to increase is good news. California, for instance, known for being Bitcoin-friendly, further proves its aptitude to move forward with an open mind by legalizing the use of bitcoins in the state. Though there is a bit of disclaimer here and there as establishments are not legally obliged to incorporate cryptocurrencies in their system; still, it is a remarkable leap in Bitcoin’s journey for mainstream acceptance.

Generally, the potential of altcoins to do more than what it is originally for is a huge possibility. Bitcoins have done it, so it is natural for the rest to follow. However, with the price of Bitcoin going down for no precise reasons, there becomes a fine line between its potential and risks; something that it also shares with other altcoins.

If the definition, functions and purpose of altcoins can be laid out in the open with nothing but pure positive agenda, the essence of cryptocurrency will be fully understood and cemented into being an effective and useful alternative currency that it is, and maybe there is a greater chance of ensuring its longevity in the market.

Quoted: “If you understand the core innovations around the blockchain idea, you’ll realize that the technology concept behind it is similar to that of a database, except that the way you interact with that database is very different.

The blockchain concept represents a paradigm shift in how software engineers will write software applications in the future, and it is one of the key concepts behind the Bitcoin revolution that need to be well understood. In this post, I’d like to explain 5 of these concepts, and how they interrelate to one another in the context of this new computing paradigm that is unravelling in front of us. They are: the blockchain, decentralized consensus, trusted computing, smart contracts and proof of work / stake. This computing paradigm is important, because it is a catalyst for the creation of decentralized applications, a next-step evolution from distributed computing architectural constructs.

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Read the article here > http://startupmanagement.org/2014/12/27/the-blockchain-is-the-new-database-get-ready-to-rewrite-everything/

— Coindesk

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A member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines has introduced a bill that would seek to create a government-backed “e-peso” that would serve as an official medium of exchange for domestic online payments.

Introduced as part of the E-Peso Act of 2014, the payments tool would be considered legal tender for debt, taxes and goods and services, according to a report by The Philippine Star.

Read more

— CoinDesk

zebrapay

Bitcoin is now available at 874 self-service payment terminals across Romania, thanks to a partnership between ATM operator Bitcoin Romania and terminal network operator ZebraPay.

The ZebraPay terminals will allow customers to buy bitcoin at a 4% commission on prices taken from the Cointrader exchange. The terminals are one-way, so customers can only trade their Romanian leu for bitcoin.

The terminals do not require customers to hand over identification documents when buying bitcoin.

The service has been available for two days but it has already sold 7.2 BTC, underscoring bitcoin’s growing popularity in the country.

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Andrew Barisser — Assembly Coins, Crytocoins News

Andrew Barisser of Assembly Coins makes strong arguments for building on top of the pure Bitcoin blockchain, rather than creating alternatives.

Recently he wrote an open letter to Reddit, where he argued that Reddit should stick to a pure Bitcoin blockchain approach to building their planned cryptocurrency initiative, rather than going sidewise with alternative approaches. Now, probably prompted from the recent news about the Medici stock exchange that is being developed with Counterparty technology, Barisser wrote a post to criticize Counterparty.

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— Coindesk

wallettec bitcoin

South African payments provider Wallettec has partnered with BitPay to integrate bitcoin with its point-of-sale (POS) payment platform.

The company worked with South African BitPay affiliate Bitcoin Payments to allow merchants using its platform to accept bitcoin payments via in-store POS devices.

The new partnership is an important step forward in bringing bitcoin to brick-and-mortar retailers in South Africa.

Wallettec’s founder Johan Meyer told CoinDesk that “this is the first time anybody has integrated bitcoin point-of-sale and allowed merchants to accept bitcoin payments from almost any payment device” in the country.

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Written By: — Singularity Hub

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Bitcoin is a decentralized, digital currency. It was invented by a mysterious individual known by the handle, Satoshi Nakamoto. A bitcoin is volatile but is currently worth about $380; regulators are increasingly interested; retailers too—true believers believe.

These headlines you’ve likely read. But where the hell do bitcoins come from anyway? They’re mined by computers making calculations lightning fast—or in this case, by a man with sixteen minutes’ free time, a pencil, and pad of paper.

Read more

Quoted: “Ethereum will also be a decentralised exchange system, but with one big distinction. While Bitcoin allows transactions, Ethereum aims to offer a system by which arbitrary messages can be passed to the blockchain. More to the point, these messages can contain code, written in a Turing-complete scripting language native to Ethereum. In simple terms, Ethereum claims to allow users to write entire programs and have the blockchain execute them on the creator’s behalf. Crucially, Turing-completeness means that in theory any program that could be made to run on a computer should run in Ethereum.” And, quoted: “As a more concrete use-case, Ethereum could be utilised to create smart contracts, pieces of code that once deployed become autonomous agents in their own right, executing pre-programmed instructions. An example could be escrow services, which automatically release funds to a seller once a buyer verifies that they have received the agreed products.”

Read Part One of this Series here » Ethereum — Bitcoin 2.0? And, What Is Ethereum.

Read Part Two of this Series here » Ethereum — Opportunities and Challenges.

Read Part Three of this Series here » Ethereum — A Summary.

Quoted: “Bitcoin technology offers a fundamentally different approach to vote collection with its decentralized and automated secure protocol. It solves the problems of both paper ballot and electronic voting machines, enabling a cost effective, efficient, open system that is easily audited by both individual voters and the entire community. Bitcoin technology can enable a system where every voter can verify that their vote was counted, see votes for different candidates/issues cast in real time, and be sure that there is no fraud or manipulation by election workers.”

Read the article here » http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239809?hootPostID=ba473face1754ce69f6a80aacc8412c7